Some observers had expected the MDC formations, who are against the holding of elections next month without key reforms, to use the electoral amendment debate as a delaying tactic to push for more time, but several ministers who spoke to SW Radio Africa on condition of anonymity said Tuesday’s meeting was surprisingly productive.
Cabinet proceedings are not made public but the sources said there was general agreement on the core issues, although some minor technical changes will still have to be made before the amendments are sent to parliament for passing.
One of the hot issues was over the proportional representation threshold. “There had been disagreement about the percentage a party would receive regarding proportional representation as the bigger parties wanted a higher threshold and the smaller parties have less. But there was a broad consensus on this issue and many good points were raised to improve the electoral law in the country,” revealed a minister.
Another one said: “Pretty much everything was accepted but the Bill is not ready to go to parliament which is sitting tomorrow.”
The MDC-T’s Jameson Timba wrote on his Facebook page: “The debate on electoral amendments was not a formality neither was it a walk in the park. MDC insisted that voters should no longer be required to show their folded ballot paper to the presiding officer after voting. This type of subtle intimidation is now a thing of the past.” We were not able to reach Timba to find out if he was talking specifically about Tuesday’s deliberations or if this was as a result of the ongoing negotiations in general.
However legal expert Derek Matyszak, who is also a senior researcher at the Research and Advocacy Unit, said: “I am very surprised that there was some consensus because the amendments to the electoral act require a 63 day period between the proclamation of the election dates and the actual election. So there would have to have been changes to the Electoral Act to accommodate the president and to accommodate the court order.”
While there seems to be some developments in terms of finalizing the process of the electoral amendments, it would appear that there are still major challenges ahead if elections are to be held by end of next month, as stipulated by the Constitutional Court.
Cabinet has to finalise amendments to the Electoral Act before the end of this week for the bill to be passed by parliament, in order to meet the July 31st deadline. But government sources say it is unlikely that the Cabinet will have the changes ready for parliament in time.
Furthermore legal experts say there must be 30 days of voter registration, and 30 days between nomination and election. They say these processes cannot run concurrently as is being widely reported, which poses legal challenges for Mugabe.
Derek Matyszak, a lawyer and senior researcher at the Research and Advocacy Unit, said: “The electoral act currently provides that there can be no registration after the nomination court sits. So Cabinet would have had to agree to change this. If so we have the outrageous position of the electoral law being crafted, not because its provisions are good, but to comply with a specific court order directed against a specific individual.”
He said the president has the option of approaching this Constitutional Court and asking the court for more time, as he stands to also violate other electoral provisions.
Meanwhile, the Southern African Development Community is facing a logistical nightmare as it remains unclear when they will hold the extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe, which has so far been postponed twice to accommodate a request by President Robert Mugabe for more time.
A SADC summit on Zimbabwe was supposed to have been held last Sunday in Maputo but had to be postponed after Mugabe said he needed more time to analyse the implications of the constitutional court judgement.
The special meeting was then supposed to be convened early this week in Pretoria, but presidential spokesperson George Charamba revealed that Mugabe had “pressing constitutional duties to fulfil this week” and will attend to the regional body after the legal requirements for polls have been attended to.
Charamba told the Sunday Mail that the President had a busy week which included chairing the crucial Cabinet meeting Tuesday; chairing the Politburo on Wednesday – where ZANU PF heavyweights are expected to finalise rules and regulations governing internal polls – and fulfilling the issue of proclamation of the election date. – SW Radio Africa News
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